D-Wave
Latest
Amazon offers quantum computing on its AWS servers
Quantum computing is arguably the next major milestone for tech companies, but unless you're the likes of Google or IBM, it's a fairly costly endeavor. But Amazon -- which up until now has been pretty quiet on the quantum front -- has plans to offer a quantum computing service to companies through the internet, thereby eliminating some of the costs and other challenges associated with pursuing the technology.
After Math: Shady deals
It's been a heck of a week for soupy sales. In addition to all of the wild proclamations (and subsequent walk-backs) made by the Trump administration, D-Wave somehow found a buyer, California's power companies went looking for handouts, Faraday Future got itself sued already, Google banned a bunch of bunk ads and word on the street is that cassettes are the new vinyl. Numbers, because what else can you trust?
Google and NASA extend their D-Wave quantum computing contracts
D-Wave, a Canadian quantum computing firm, announced on Monday that a consortium between Google, NASA and the USRA (Universities Space Research Association) has agreed to extend its existing contract with the company for another seven years. This new agreement will see the existing 500-qubit D-Wave Two hardware remain at NASA Ames research center as well as install new quantum computers as they are invented. The Google-led consortium employs these computing platforms to study how the emerging technology could help develop AI and machine learning systems. NASA specifically uses the computer to generate better mission-control supports. [Image Credit: NASA]
Quantum computing firm calls 'bullshit' as scientists undermine its technology
How do you evaluate a quantum computer you just bought from D-Wave for $15 million? It's not easy, especially since no one can really understand how the machine -- with its ones, zeros and superpositioned "one-and-zeros" -- actually functions. Instead, all you can do is throw increasingly complex questions at it, and hope that it answers them quicker than a top-end classical computer. This quest for evidence of so-called "quantum speeedup" has been going on for a while, with little in the way of positive results. Now, a freshly-published collaborative study involving Google (owner of a D-Wave box), Microsoft (owner of some very advanced traditional tech), and a team of university scientists, has achieved new results that are equally disappointing. Science magazine describes the study as "the fairest comparison yet." D:Wave's founder, meanwhile, has described it as "total bullshit."
Google tests the performance limits of D-Wave's quantum computers
We've long known that D-Wave's quantum computers are specialized tools rather than Swiss Army Knives, but just how good are they at their intended tasks? Google has just conducted some benchmarking to find out, and the short answer is that these systems are very good -- but they have definite limits. A current-generation D-Wave 2 is about 35,500 times faster than a generalized problem-solving computer when both are running standard software. However, some of that advantage disappears when a general-purpose computer runs code that simulates quantum computing. While D-Wave's hardware is better at dealing with structured code, it runs neck-and-neck with the "fake" system when tackling random problems. Not that Google is feeling much in the way of buyer's remorse. It believes that further tests could see the D-Wave unit come out ahead, and future quantum machines should make it harder for conventional PCs to catch up.
Google and NASA make a short film to explain their quantum computing lab (update: video)
Google and NASA made much ado of their Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab when it launched in May, but they said little about how it works or its long-term goals. The two organizations are shedding a little more light on the subject through a new short film for the Imagine Films Science Festival. As Google and NASA explain, the lab could ultimately solve optimization problems that are beyond the scope of traditional computers. NASA may develop a more holistic model of the universe, for example, while Google could improve medicine. The film also provides a rare peek at the inside of one of D-Wave's second-generation quantum computers -- despite the small size of the circuitry, each system needs a giant enclosure that cools the hardware down to near absolute zero. The film is available to watch through The Verge, but those who want to check out the official screening can pay for a $50 festival pass and visit Google's New York City campus on October 11th at 7PM. Update: The short film is now embedded after the break for your viewing pleasure.
D-Wave's quantum computer overcomes key math challenge, doesn't silence skeptics
D-Wave has long wanted to show that its quantum computing technology is the real deal, and it may have just come closer to proving its case. The company now says that its computer has calculated Ramsey numbers, or solutions to optimization-based math problems that are sometimes difficult to find using traditional systems. The computation represented one of the biggest-ever implementations of an algorithm, according to researchers. However, the feat isn't necessarily proof of quantum computing at work. As Wired explains, we've seen all of these numbers in previous experiments; the challenge wasn't difficult enough to require the involvement of a quantum computer. However, D-Wave may have better evidence in the future. Its third-generation system, due in 2015, should have enough power to find Ramsay numbers that are theoretically impossible to calculate today.
USC finds that D-Wave's quantum computer is real, maybe
D-Wave has had little trouble lining up customers for its quantum computer, but questions have persisted as to whether or not the machine is performing quantum math in the first place. University of Southern California researchers have tested Lockheed Martin's unit to help settle that debate, and they believe that D-Wave's computer could be the real deal -- or rather, that it isn't obviously cheating. They've shown that the system isn't based on simulated annealing, which relies on traditional physics for number crunching. The device is at least "consistent" with true quantum annealing, although there's no proof that this is what's going on; it may be using other shortcuts. Whether or not D-Wave built a full-fledged quantum computer, the resulting output is credible enough that customers won't feel much in the way of buyer's remorse.
Google and NASA team up for D-Wave-powered Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab
Google. NASA. Quantum computers. Seriously, everything about the new Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab at the Ames Research Center is exciting. The joint effort between Mountain View and America's space agency will put a 512 qubit machine from D-Wave at the disposal of researchers from around the globe, with the USRA (Universities Space Research Association) inviting teams of scientists and engineers to share time on the unique super computer. The goal is to study how quantum computing might be leveraged to advance machine learning, a branch of AI that has proven crucial to Google's success. The internet giant has already done some work with quantum computing before, now the goal is to see if its experimentation can translate into real world results. The idea, for Google at least, is to combine the extreme (but highly-specialized) power of the quantum bit with its oceans of traditional data centers to build more accurate models for everything from speech recognition to web search. And maybe, just maybe, with the help of quantum computers your phone will finally realize you didn't mean to say "duck."
D-Wave sells first commercial quantum computer to Lockheed Martin
Who found ten million dollars to drop on the first commercially available quantum computer? Lockheed Martin, it seems, as the aerospace defense contractor has just begun a "multi-year contract" with the quantum annealing experts at D-Wave to develop... nothing that they're ready or willing to publicly discuss at this time. This "strategic relationship" marks the second major vote of confidence in D-Wave's technology, after Google built image detection algorithms for the company's processors a couple years back. Or, perhaps Lockheed Martin just wants a new shiny black toy for the Skunk Works labs. PR after the break.
D-Wave One claims mantle of first commercial quantum computer
Whether or not D-Wave has actually built a quantum computer is still a matter of debate (though, a study authored by the company and published in Nature claims to prove its success) but, whatever it is these crafty Canadians have created, you can order one now and start crunching qubits with abandon. The D-Wave One is the first commercially available quantum computer and, while its 128-qubit processor can only handle very specific tasks and is easily outperformed by traditional CPUs, it could represent a revolution in the field of supercomputing. As D-Wave scales up to thousands or tens-of-thousands of qubits, complex number theory problems and advanced cryptographic systems could crumble before the mighty power of quantum annealing... or at least give us faster Google searches. Just out of curiosity, we contacted D-Wave to see how much we'd have to cough up for a quantum desktop of our own, but we've yet to hear back. Update: Joseph passed along an e-mail from the company with a little more information, including a price: $10,000,000. Yep, ten large, and we're not sure that includes the liquid helium required to keep it cooled.
Google working with D-Wave on what may or may not be quantum computing
When we first mentioned D-Wave way back in early 2007 we immediately compared it to Steorn -- less than optimal beginnings. The company was promising quantum computing for the masses and, while it did demonstrate a machine that exhibited qubit-like behavior, the company never really silenced critics who believed the underpinnings of the machine were rather more binary in nature. Those disbelievers are surely shutting up now, with word hitting the street that Google has signed on, building new image search algorithms that run on D-Wave's C4 Chimera chip. The first task was to learn to spot automobiles in pictures, something that the quantum machine apparently learned to do simply by looking at other pictures of cars. It all sounds rather neural-networkish to us, but don't let our fuzzy logic cloud your excitement over the prospect of honest to gosh commercial quantum computing.
World's first "commercial" quantum computer solves Sudoku
As expected, Canada's D-Wave Systems has announced "the world's first commercially viable quantum computer," and they seem to be pretty stoked about it. The achievement is notable, since they've managed to build a whole 16 qubit computer that actually does some simple computations, even if it's far less powerful than even the most basic of home computers. Qubits are quantum bits that can be in an "on," "off" or "both" state due to fuzzy physics at the atomic level, and up until now the best anyone had done was get three qubits together for computing. This 16-bit version can solve Sudoku, create a complicated seating plan and search for molecular structures, but quantum computers will need to be in the range of thousands of qubits to be able to solve puzzles -- such as encryption -- that current computers cannot. D-Wave is planning to have a 1,000 qubit version ready by the end of next year, but scientists in the field are skeptical. The adiabatic method used by D-Wave, which cools electronic circuits into a superconducting state, with the resulting qubits being slowly varied in a magnetic field, might not be able to keep its speed when on that large of a scale. "It probably won't work but it's not quixotic," says Seth Lloyd of MIT. "If it works then they can solve really hard problems and they'll be very much in demand," he says. But it's a long shot: "It's certainly not the kind of company I'd invest my money in." To raise awareness, D-Wave will be opening the computer up to computational problems over the internet after the results of the project are peer-reviewed. More pics after the break.[Via Digg]
Quantum computer to debut next Tuesday?
Remember where you were when you heard about Steorn? Us neither. (Yet.) Kind of the same with D-Wave, which, as you may recall, claims to be the first and only "commercial" quantum computing venture; despite a low hanging cloud of skeptical academics, D-Wave is claiming next Tuesday it'll finally debut the first quantum computer: a 16 qubit processor capable of 64,000 simultaneous calculations in quantum space(s). What's a qubit? Why, it's the quantum computer measurement equivalent of a conventional computer's bit (i.e. more (qu)bits = more data and processes), but we're not even going to insult your intelligence by pretending to understand how a many-hundreds qubit quantum computer could supposedly solve more operations than the universe has atoms. We just know that a quantum computer has yet to be built, has the potential to revolutionize the way we understand and use computation -- and with any luck D-Wave's supposed machine will be promptly put to work analyzing weather patterns so we'll know the exact climate this time next year and not buy the wrong things when this year's fall lines come out. That is, if it doesn't open up a black hole, or something.[Via Slashdot]
